C. S. Forester

Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades. His most notable works were The African Queen and the eleven-book Horatio Hornblower series, about naval warfare during the Napoleonic era.

His novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Hornblower Series

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (1950)

Hornblower and the Widow McCool (1967, short story)

Lieutenant Hornblower (1952)

Hornblower and the Hotspur (1962)

Hornblower and the Crisis (1967,

unfinished novel and short stories)

Hornblower and the Atropos (1953)

The Happy Return (1937)

A Ship of the Line (1938)

Flying Colours (1938)

The Commodore (1945)

Lord Hornblower (1946)

Hornblower in the West Indies (1958)

The Last Encounter (1967, short story)

Hornblower, One More Time (1979)

General Fiction

A Pawn Among Kings (1924)

The Paid Piper (1924)

Payment Deferred (1926)

Love Lies Dreaming (1927)

The Wonderful Week (1927)

The Shadow of the Hawk (1928)

Brown on Resolution (1929)

Plain Murder (1930)

Two-and-Twenty (1931)

U97 (1931)

Death to the French (1932)

The Gun (1933)

Nurse Cavell: a play in three acts. By Carl Eric Bechhofer Roberts, Cecil Scott Forester (1933)

The Peacemaker (1934)

The African Queen (1935)

The General (1936)

To the Indies (1940)

The Earthly Paradise (1940)

The Captain from Connecticut (1941)

The Ship (1943)

The Bedchamber Mystery (1944)

The Sky and the Forest (1948)

Randall and the River of Time (1950)

The Good Shepherd (1955)

Sink the Bismarck (1959)

The Nightmare (1954)

The Man in the Yellow Raft (1969)

Gold from Crete (1970)

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Taking us into a 1930s London of grimy back streets, smoky cafes and shabby rooms, Plain Murder, C. S. Forester’s second crime novel, is a brilliantly atmospheric and gripping portrayal of the dark heart of a killer, published in Penguin Modern Classics.

‘They’ll get you for certain,’ said Oldroyd. ‘Then they’ll hang you.’

At the Universal Advertising Agency on the Strand, London, a murder is being planned. Three men have been discovered taking bribes and face the grim prospect of the dole queue, unless they can get rid of the person who caught them. Their ringleader, thick-set and vicious Mr Morris, soon discovers that killing is far easier than he thought – and that he even has a talent for it. He might, he feels, be superhuman. But as he will discover, there is no such thing as the perfect crime, and no deed goes unpunished.

‘A terrible and striking piece of work’- Observer

If you enjoyed Plain Murder, you might like Forester’s Payment Deferred, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Mr Marble is in serious debt, desperate for money to pay his family’s bills, until the combination of a wealthy relative, a bottle of Cyanide and a shovel offer him the perfect solution. In fact, his troubles are only just beginning. Slowly the Marble family becomes poisoned by guilt, and caught in an increasingly dangerous trap of secrets, fear and blackmail. Then, in a final twist of the knife, Mrs Marble ensures that retribution comes in the most unexpected of ways …

First published in 1926, C. S. Forester’s gritty psychological thriller took crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.

Described as a ‘riveting read’ by Sarah Waters and acclaimed by crime writers such as Andrew Taylor, The Pursued is a dark, gripping 1930s psychological thriller by C. S. Forester, the author of Hornblower.

The story begins when Marjorie, a young woman, arrives home one summer evening and finds her sister, dead, with her head in the oven. She looks peaceful, as if she is asleep. Their mother suspects, however, that Dot’s death was far from natural – and that she knows who the killer is. So, slowly and meticulously, she plots her terrible revenge.

C. S. Forester’s 1935 thriller The Pursued, lost for decades, rewrote the traditions of crime fiction to create a dark, twisted portrayal of obsession and retribution.

1793, the eve of the Napoleonic Wars, and Midshipman Horatio Hornblower receives his first command…

As a seventeen-year-old with a touch of sea sickness, young Horatio Hornblower hardly cuts a dash in His Majesty’s navy. Yet from the moment he is ordered to board a French merchant ship in the Bay of Biscay and take command of crew and cargo, he proves his seafaring mettle on the waves. With a character-forming duel, several chases and some strange tavern encounters, the young Hornblower is soon forged into a formidable man of the sea. This is the first of eleven books chronicling the nautical adventures of C. S. Forester’s inimitable hero, Horatio Hornblower.

1812 and the fate of Europe lies in the hands of newly appointed Commodore Hornblower…

Dispatched to northern waters to protect Britain’s Baltic interests, Horatio Hornblower must halt the advance of Napoleon’s empire into Sweden and Russia. But first he must battle the terrible Baltic weather: fog, snow and icebound waterways; overcome Russian political and commercial intrigues; avoid the seductive charms of royalty as well as the deadly reach of assassins in the imperial palace; and contend with hostile armies and French privateers. With the fate of Europe balanced on a knife edge, the responsibility lies heavy on a Commodore’s shoulders…

1812 and the fate of Europe lies in the hands of newly appointed Commodore Hornblower…Dispatched to northern waters to protect Britain’s Baltic interests, Horatio Hornblower must halt the advance of Napoleon’s empire into Sweden and Russia. But first he must battle the terrible Baltic weather: fog, snow and icebound waterways; overcome Russian political and commercial intrigues; avoid the seductive charms of royalty as well as the deadly reach of assassins in the imperial palace; and contend with hostile armies and French privateers. With the fate of Europe balanced on a knife edge, the responsibility lies heavy on a Commodore’s shoulders…

June, 1808 – and off the Coast of Nicaragua Captain Horatio Hornblower has his hands full…

Now in command of HMS Lydia, a thirty-six-gun frigate, Hornblower has instructions to form an alliance against the Spanish colonies with a mad and messianic revolutionary, El Supremo; to find a water route across the Central American isthmus; and ‘to take, sink, burn or destroy’ the fifty-gun Spanish ship of the line Natividad – or face court-martial. And as if that wasn’t hard enough, Hornblower must also contend with the charms of an unwanted passenger: Lady Barbara Wellesley…

One vital convoy can break Mussolini’s stranglehold on Malta – but it is intercepted in the Mediterranean by enemy warships…

Five light British cruisers are left to beat back the armed might of the Italian battle fleet and C. S. Forester – creator of Horatio Hornblower – takes us aboard HMS Artemis as she steams into battle against overwhelming odds. We get inside the heads of Artemis’s men, from the Captain on his bridge down to the lowest engine room rating, as they struggle over one long and terrifying afternoon to do their duty.

One vital convoy can break Mussolini’s stranglehold on Malta – but it is intercepted in the Mediterranean by enemy warships…Five light British cruisers are left to beat back the armed might of the Italian battle fleet and C. S. Forester – creator of Horatio Hornblower – takes us aboard HMS Artemis as she steams into battle against overwhelming odds. We get inside the heads of Artemis’s men, from the Captain on his bridge down to the lowest engine room rating, as they struggle over one long and terrifying afternoon to do their duty.

The nineteenth century dawns and the Napoleonic Wars rage as Horatio Hornblower faces the fury of the French and Spanish fleets combined. Amidst the hissing of wet wads, the stifling heat of white-hot cannonshot and the clamour of a mutinous crew, new Lieutenant Hornblower will need all of his seafaring cunning to overcome his first challenge in independent command on the high seas. And while blood and violence flow thick and fast aboard a beleaguered HMS Renown, the aftermath of war promises intrigue of an entirely different order: Maria, a young señorita, who might just soften the steely resolve of a young lieutenant.

May, 1810 – and thirty-nine-year-old Captain Horatio Hornblower has been handed his first ship of the line…

Though the seventy-four-gun HMS Sutherland is ‘the ugliest and least desirable two-decker in the Navy’ and a crew shortage means he must recruit two hundred and fifty landlubbers, Hornblower knows that by the time Sutherland and her squadron reach the blockaded Catalonian coast every seaman will do his duty. But with daring raids against the French army and navy to be made, it will take all Hornblower’s seamanship – and stewardship – to steer a steady course to victory and home…

Set in 1805, Hornblower and the Crisis finds Horatio Hornblower in possession of confidential dispatches from Bonaparte after a vicious hand-to-hand encounter with a French brig. The admiralty rewards Hornblower by sending him on a dangerous espionage mission that will light the powder trail leading to the battle of Trafalgar.

Hornblower and the Crisis was unfinished at the time of Forester’s death, but the author left notes – included here – telling us how the tale would end. Also included are two further stories – Hornblower and the Widow McCool and The Last Encounter – that tell of Hornblower as a very young and very old man, respectively.

April 1803, and the Peace of Amiens is failing as Horatio Hornblower takes a three-master on a vital reconnaissance mission … On the day of his marriage to Maria, Hornblower is ordered to take the Hotspur and head for Brest – war is coming and Napoleon will not catch His Majesty’s navy with its britches round its ankles. With thoughts of his new life as a husband intruding on his duties, Hornblower must prove himself to be not only the most capable commander in the fleet, but also its most daring if he is to stop the French gaining the upper hand. This is the third of eleven books chronicling the adventures of C. S. Forester’s inimitable nautical hero, Horatio Hornblower.

As an admiral struggling to impose order in the chaotic aftermath of the French wars, Horatio Hornblower, Commander-in-chief of His Majesty’s ships and vessels in the West Indies, must still face savage pirates, reckless revolutionaries and a violent hurricane. And while his retirement at half-pay might well be in sight, Hornblower will need every ounce of his rapier wit and quick thinking – not to mention his courage and leadership – to ensure that the lasting peace in Europe reaches the turbulent seas of the West Indies.

The book John Kelly reads every time he gets a promotion to remind him of ‘the perils of hubris, the pitfalls of patriotism and duty unaccompanied by critical thinking’

The most vivid, moving – and devastating – word-portrait of a World War One British commander ever written, here re-introduced by Max Hastings.

The General sold out within days after newly-appointed White House chief General John Kelly revealed he turns to it every time he is promoted.

According to a statement from Collins, the publisher: ‘Told through the experience of an army general in charge of 100,000 men in the trenches, the book highlights the pitfalls of patriotism and duty when unaccompanied by training and critical thinking. Kelly reportedly reread the classic ahead of joining Donald Trump’s troubled staff to remind himself of what to avoid as its new head. Copies in the US are exchanging hands on Amazon for over $5k.’

Out of print for years, William Collins reissued the title to mark the centenary of the First World War in 2014, with a new foreword from Max Hastings, who considers The General to be the best portrait of British higher command in the Great War.

William Collins publisher Arabella Pike said: “C.S. Forester believed The General to be his best work. The story of his fumbling half-hero, Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Curzon demonstrates to leaders everywhere how courage, duty and endurance can never replace critical and original thinking in the pursuit of success. It warns us all, from John Kelly to the president he serves, of the dangers of hubris and the ever-present threat of human folly.”

C.S. Forester’s 1936 masterpiece follows Lt General Herbert Curzon, who fumbled a fortuitous early step on the path to glory in the Boer War. 1914 finds him an honourable, decent, brave and wholly unimaginative colonel. Survival through the early slaughters in which so many fellow-officers perished then brings him rapid promotion. By 1916, he is a general in command of 100,000 British soldiers, whom he leads through the horrors of the Somme and Passchendaele, a position for which he is entirely unsuited and intellectually unprepared.

Wonderfully human with Forester’s droll relish for human folly on full display, this is the story of a man of his time who is anything but wicked, yet presides over appalling sacrifice and tragedy. In his awkwardness and his marriage to a Duke’s unlovely, unhappy daughter, Curzon embodies Forester’s full powers as a storyteller. His half-hero is patriotic, diligent, even courageous, driven by his sense of duty and refusal to yield to difficulties. But also powerfully damned is the same spirit which caused a hundred real-life British generals to serve as high priests at the bloodiest human sacrifice in the nation’s history. A masterful and insightful study about the perils of hubris and unquestioning duty in leadership, The General is a fable for our times.

A humiliated and shipless captive of the French, Horatio Hornblower faces execution unless he can escape and make a triumphant return to England.

Forced to surrender his ship, HMS Sutherland, after a long and bloody battle, Captain Horatio Hornblower is held prisoner in a French fortress. Prospects turn bleaker when he learns that he and Lt. Bush are to be tried and executed in Paris as part of Napoleonís attempts to rally the war-weary Empire. Even if Hornblower can escape this fate and make it safe to England, he still faces court-martial for surrendering his ship. With little hope for the future and little left to lose, Hornblower throws caution to the wind once more.

It’s 1805, and Hornblower is both humbled and honoured in quick succession…

After near disaster on board a canal barge, Horatio Hornblower is given his first assignment as Captain, taking charge of the Atropos, a 22-gun sloop that will act as flagship for the funeral procession of Lord Nelson. Soon the Atropos is part of the Mediterranean fleetís assault upon Napoleon, and Captain Hornblower must execute a bold and daring salvage operation for buried treasure lying deep in Turk waters.

Under the guns of a suspicious port captain and the threat of a Spanish frigate more than double Atroposís size, Hornblower must steer his ship unscathed and triumphant…